A man battled his way through smoke to tackle a fire in his home today after a candle set fire to Christmas presents.

Cleckheaton firefighters were called to Headlands Road, in Liversedge, at 4.33am following reports of a house fire.

A spokesman said a candle had burned down and set fire to some presents left under a windowsill.

The man tackled the blaze with fire extinguishers before he and his wife waited outside for firefighters to arrive.

The spokesman said: “The gentleman had two smoke detectors that activated which caused him to wake up.”